They don't seem to be aiming at console gaming in particular, and much of what you wrote does not apply to non-console games. In casual and social gaming, for instance, there is no schedule. Technology isn't always easy (you'd be amazed what it took to scale our game to 100k daily users) but it's doable on a budget and you don't worry about being outdated.

Gameplay's always tough. Distribution varies. Social game distribution was easy for a long time, though it's now gotten harder. I don't know enough about casual to say.